Him se yldesta andswarode; werodes wisa, wordhord onleac.
"That noblest of men answered him; the leader of the warrior band unlocked his wordhoard."

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Freaks & Monsters Bleg

I've got to order books for the Studies in Medieval Literature: Freaks and Monsters class I'm teaching in the Spring. The extremely-tentative reading list thus far:

Ovid's Metamorphoses (I know this is classical -- for background)

OE PhysiologusLais of Marie de France

The History and Topography of Ireland

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville

Dante's Inferno

The Decameron

The Saga of the Volsungs

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki

I'm avoiding Chaucer and Arthurian stuff, because those are covered in other undergrad courses. I'm also avoiding Beowulf & SGGK, because I'm sick of them myself. I might assign "The Monsters and the Critics" anyway, though, under the assumption the students have all read Beowulf before.

Any last minute advice from those who've taught medieval monsters before?* Is there a really, really obvious text I'm blanking on?

*Er, taught about medieval monsters. Unless you've been tenured for so long that your first students were actual medieval monsters.

Go crazy and do some Irish literature? There's the fomoire, or Balor, both in the beautifully translated and free for the down load edition by Elizabeth Gray, of Cath Maige Tuired/The Second Battle of Moytura (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/T300010.html), or possibly Mélusine?

Scott, Isidore of Seville discusses monsters in a section of De Etymologiae called "De Portentis," which is available online in Latin. Looks like it's around 1,500 words or so and packed with references to other critters found in your reading list.

You might also want to take a peek at later (possibly post-medieval?) legends in which Guy of Warwick faces off against the Dun Cow. It's not every day one encounters a rampaging, monstrous cow.